Piles of Books

I have the extraordinary privilege of having books sent to me for review.  This is something I've worked hard for, making publishing contacts as a bookseller, promoting books as much as I could, writing progressively better reviews.

The upside to this is that I have more books than I can read.  The downside to it is... I have more books than I can read.  And shelve.  I love reading and I love books, but the time has come for me to realize that I can't house all the books I have anymore.  I also feel bad about the number of books I just don't have time to read and review.

So, in order to galvanize me to get rid of some books (and read more older titles), I sorted my books into various piles (sequels to books I've read, first books in a series, standalones, YA, books I'm not sure I'll like, etc.) and then reorganized my bookshelves.

Note, the upright books on the bottom left are history books I need quick access to and oversized books.

I HATE having books on their sides on my shelves.  I like my books easy to access.  I like my books easily visible (without other books crowded in front of them).  But on their sides, piled untidely, with piles in front of other piles, is the only way I can get all of my books on the shelves now.  I've done this on purpose.  I'm hoping that my hatred of my shelving format will galvanize me into reading faster, picking up more of the older titles on my shelves, and getting rid of books I won't read again.

I've also made a few piles of 'read 50 pages' books on my floor.  These are books whose synopses don't really interest me, but that I feel bad discarding outright.  I figure if a book can't capture my interest in 50 pages it's not worth keeping around.  And it gives books I might otherwise leave on my shelves indefinitely a chance to wow me, or go to a home where someone who is interested in them lives.

The end result of this is two-fold.  First, I've already started accepting fewer review books and only request books on Netgalley (and reduced the number I request).  Summers are always light for new books, but I expect I'll be getting several titles in the fall and I want to be able to read those right away.  Second, while I've been trying to keep up my once a week book review schedule, reading 50 pages of several books until I find one that I want to read all of means I won't be finishing as many books and so won't be able to review them.  In other words, expect to see a few more movie reviews on Tuesdays.